Harpsden v Greys Green – 25th July 2009

Imlay and Stevens Propel Harpsden to Massive Total

Harpsden
S.Imlay st ? b W Fairhead 59
W.Stevens lbw b Crook 81
M.Hodgkiss Retired Hurt 36
P.Burtt st ? b Knight 23
I.Reissman b Rooke 30
A.Cary Not Out 29
R.Harris Not Out 4

TOTAL 295-4
Extras 33 (b14, lb3, w8, nb3, p5)

Greys Green
Butler ct Burtt b Heath 2
Cross ct Harris b B Hancock 16
Cusden ct Reissman b Greenwood 22
Knight Not Out 54
Rooke b Cary 27
Hoggart Run Out 0
Hunt Not Out 12

TOTAL 147-5
Extras 14 (b1, lb2, w8, nb3)

Harpsden entertained Greys Green on a pitch that was still recovering from the weekday rain. However, this didn’t seem to peg back Harpsden’s openers, as Stevens and Imlay got Harpsden off to the best possible start to leave Harpsden on 65 without loss after 10 overs. Imlay in particular was timing the ball beautifully all around the ground, and when he eventually fell for a brilliant 59, the openers had fallen one run short of the 100 partnership. This brought Hodgkiss to the crease to join Stevens, who had also now started to hit the ball all around the ground. Both batsmen were playing brilliantly when, out of the blue Hodgkiss pulled up with a back injury and decided to take a rest. Soon after this, Stevens fell for 81, on a day where he deserved to go on and get the 3 figures. Harpsden then started to really attack the Greys Green bowling, with the last ten overs going for ninety nine runs. Valuable contributions came from Cary (29 not out) and Reissman (30).

Greys Green knew that it was going to take something special to chase this massive score. And there task was made a lot harder when Butler prodded the ball to Burtt at gully off Heaths bowling for just 2. The introduction of Hancock into the attack, to work in tandem with Deville at the other end dried up the runs even further for Greys Green, with Cross in particular finding it difficult to play the spinning ball. And this proved to be his downfall as he edged one behind, with Harris taking a very good catch. All of the Harpsden bowlers continued to bowl very well, making sure that Greys Green couldn’t get close to the target. Only Knight managed to spend time at the crease, to finish on a well crafted 54 not out, but his lack of support meant that Greys Green could only manage 147-5, giving Harpsden victory by 148 runs.